The Demons Return
by kissmyquiver
Summary: They say that behind every strong man is an even stronger woman, but it just so happens that Tony Stark's just died. Rated T for general themes. Oneshot.


**Hey Hey Hey :) so I totally know I should be working on my next fic(probably called ****_The Commons_****), but Fluticorn's ****_Blood Red_**** made me feel really evil so I decided to write this instead :) If you like the story, please follow, favorite, or please review :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything**

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The streets were on fire. Debris was scattered everywhere from the team's last world-saving adventure. Cars were overturned every few feet and the lingering sound of sirens filled the think, smokey air. The battle was finally over, but fixing the damage would be an adventure all in itself.  
Tony landed on the ground and popped his face plate up. His eyes widened and his eyebrows furrowed together. Tony's breathing became suddenly labored, and JARVIS picked up on it.  
"Mr. Stark, are you alright?"  
Tony gave no reply. JARVIS wouldn't understand. No one would. Instead Tony's breathing picked up and his head started to spin. The impossible was happening, and he was apart of it.  
Unfortunately, so was Pepper.  
Sweet, beautiful Pepper was lying limp in Tony's arms. She wasn't breathing, and her brown eyes were shut. The freckles that normally sprinkled her face were gone, replaced with streaks of blood. The sticky, red liquid ran off of her face and into Pepper's hair as well.  
Tony shook his head and drew in a sharp breath. Her beautiful strawberry-blond hair and the dark red of her blood should never have mixed.  
Tony was holding her now. No longer kneeling, he sat down on the rocky, beat-up road and took her in his arms like he had so many times before. He curled her head up to his chest and placed her hands in her lap.  
Behind his eyes Tony was beginning to feel the start of tears. The prickling became too much, and the waterfall began to slide down his cheeks. When the team found him, Tony was sobbing into Pepper's chest surrounded by bits and pieces of armor.  
Clint, Bruce, and Steve stared down somberly, each afraid to approach Tony in his sensitive state. Natasha looked down at Pepper and immediately stormed off. Clint later said he found Natasha crying in the woods nearby. Her knuckles were covered in blood and splinters, and there was a nearby tree about to topple over. Tony lost a lover, and Natasha lost her best friend.  
Eventually the team had to leave the area, and for Tony that meant leaving Pepper. SHIELD took her body away, leaving Tony with blood-stained hands and a despondent expression. He was silent the entire flight home, which was a first, and for the next week after. Tony only came out of his lab for the necessities. Eventually the team elected Bruce to talk to Tony, who listened to Bruce, but said nothing before returning to his world of solitude.  
The team missed Pepper, but Tony was suffering far worse than they had imagined he would. Tony's insomnia returned, and when he did sleep he was plagued with nightmares. Tony would sleep about three hours before waking up screaming, crying, or both, and from there he would return to work, inventing and creating. Heavy doses of alcohol and coffee, sometimes mixed and sometimes separated, kept him awake long enough to keep creating.  
This pattern continued for about a month, until one day Natasha couldn't take it anymore. Tony came up the stairs to get some air, and she snapped. She walked towards him and slapped his face, hard.  
"You need to snap out of this. You're supposed to be our leader, our friend. You've been nothing but a robot for the last three months and it's time that this ends." Tony stared back at her, shocked. "You didn't just lose your girlfriend on that mission. We all lost a friend. You need to stop this and start living. We need to be out there, doing missions, helping others, and saving lives! This is not how Pepper would have wanted to you live! She wanted you to continue helping the world, not become a zombified drunk who never sees the light of day!" She paused, then restarted a little nicer. "I know that different types of people grieve differently, but it's time for you to step away from this, and become the co-leader this team needs."  
The living room, which was once abuzz with life, was stunned into silence.  
Tony retreated to his lab and put everything he had made since Pepper's death into a pile. The pile took up almost half the room, but there was room left over for Tony to pull up a chair and just sit. For about an hour, Tony sat, pondering his coping mechanisms while his team sat, deflated, above him. At the end of the hour, he realized what happened. Tony wasn't building to merely fight off sleep anymore. It was Tony, creating new life in place of Pepper. He was trying to fill a void that could only be filled with love with inventions and chunks of metal. Tony returned upstairs with a new purpose and a new goal: be the leader the team needed.

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**I hope that wasn't too bad.**


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